A Simple Life
by Razzle
Summary: This fanfic begins just after the episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?" Carolyn, heartbroken, decides to stay behind on the planet where the crew of the Enterprise found Apollo. Carolyn/Apollo Happy ending! Now Complete!
1. Loyalty

Chapter One: Loyalty

"I'm not going back to the _Enterprise_ with you, Captain," Carolyn said quietly. Her gentle tone did nothing to hide that she meant it.

"You canna be serious!" Scotty exploded. "You've just _got_ to come back with us! There's nothing here for you -- nothing!"

"Scotty," Captain Kirk said warningly. He had already seen his chief engineer's temper get out of hand too many times on this away mission.

"But Captain!" Scotty protested in a tone he usually reserved for talking about the _Enterprise's_ engines in a crisis, "That -- that alien 'Apollo' has scrambled her brains or something." He turned to Carolyn again. "You canna know what you're saying!"

"Oh, yes I do," Carolyn said firmly.

Ensign Chekov and Bones exchanged a dubious glance, but both kept silent to let the Captain handle this unexpected development.

"Scotty," Captain Kirk repeated sternly, "I want you to beam back up to the _Enterprise_ with McCoy and Chekov. We --" he glanced at Carolyn, "-- or I will follow shortly."

"But Captain!" Scotty started, but at a look from his Captain, he stopped and sighed. "Aye, Captain," he said loyally, giving Carolyn one last pleading, worried look. He went to stand with the others and flipped his communicator open.

"Scotty to _Enterprise_... Three to beam up."

Captain Kirk opened his mouth to speak, but as tired as he was after the mission it took a moment for the words to come out. "Why? Lieutenant... are you sure you want to _stay_ here?"

"I know what I'm doing, Captain," Carolyn said, looking at Captain Kirk with wide, large eyes that would have looked innocent if they didn't hold so much pain. She smiled reassuringly, though she was obviously unhappy. "I'll be all right here. This planet was designed with our needs in mind."

Impulsively, Captain Kirk grabbed Carolyn by the shoulders, sitting on the antique style bench next to her, and looked hard into her eyes. "Are you _sure_... that this is what you want?"

No longer even trying to smile, Carolyn stared earnestly back into her Captain's eyes. "I've done my duty. I did what you asked, Captain, even though following your orders meant hurting Apollo so badly." The sun was beginning to set, and Carolyn seemed even more beautiful with her hair and features bathed in the soft twilight. It was such a beautiful picture that James Kirk could almost swear he heard a lullabye playing softly in the distance somewhere. Carolyn looked down sadly at her hands where they rested in her lap, and at the lovely pink dress she was still wearing that Apollo had given her. "...And even though it hurt me."

"But what will you do? You'll be all alone here."

Carolyn looked back up at Captain Kirk, a genuine smile of some small happiness lighting her face, though the pain still shone clearly in her eyes. "Even though Apollo is gone, I can still honor his memory," she said, speaking as forcefully as her gentle demeanor would allow. "I'm going to gather laurel leaves for him."

Captain Kirk took Carolyn's hands in his own. "Lieutenant..." he began, then trailed off feeling at a loss for words. "Carolyn!"

"Please try to understand, Captain," Carolyn said softly. "I could never be happy on the _Enterprise_ now, or in any part of the Federation." Her eyes seemed to be begging him to understand.

Captain Kirk reluctantly nodded. "I do understand." He stood up, letting her hands slip away from his, and stepped a few paces away to allow the transporter to get a clearer fix on his readings. "Kirk to _Enterprise_," he said, flipping open his communicator and speaking into it. "One to beam up." He lowered the communicator briefly and looked at Carolyn. "Goodbye, Lieutenant," he said with a small nod, then lifted the communicator again. "Energize."

"Goodbye, Captain. Thank you," Carolyn said just before he disappeared.

The _Enterprise_ sailed proudly out of orbit, leaving the planet below again with just one inhabitant.


	2. Loneliness

Chapter Two: Loneliness

Carolyn smiled bravely as she knelt to lay out the laurel leaves she had gathered on the rubble where Apollo's great Pavillion had stood. She still had her training as a Starfleet Officer, and intended to carry out her plan to honor and remember that gentle alien who had called himself a god. She would not allow herself to fall apart helplessly in useless tears.

It was so quiet. In the short minutes and hours that Carolyn had spent so far on the planet, alone since the _Enterprise_ had left, she already felt lonely. She couldn't imagine how Apollo must have suffered, feeling that loneliness for centuries. She felt a terrible heartache and sense of guilt, not for the first time, at having had to be the one to betry Apollo's joy at seeing humanity again. She knew that in her own mortal lifespan she could never come close to feeling the desperate loneliness and isolation that he had felt.

Carolyn slowly rose to her feet, regretting that things hadn't been different. She missed Apollo terribly. She decided to walk in the garden.

As she slowly walked amidst the flowers, sampling their various beautiful aromas and feeling melancholy, she almost thought she could hear Apollo's voice on the wind calling her. _"Carolyn... Why? I loved you..."_ The sound of his voice echoing in her mind and ears tormented her.

A soft breeze brushed past her face, carrying Apollo's voice to her again, more loudly this time, as it gently rustled through her hair. _"Carolyn...!"_

Carolyn's breath caught in her throat and an impossible hope stabbed through her heart. "Apollo!" she whispered breathlessly, and ran back toward the ruined Pavillion. Tears blurred her vision and she stumbled but kept running.

After painfully long seconds, the Pavillion finally came into view. As Carolyn ran to it, she saw Apollo lying stretched out on the smooth white bench that was one of the few parts of the great structure that was still intact. "Oh, Apollo," she sobbed as she dropped to her knees next to the gentle, heartbroken alien and flung herself across his chest, holding him protectively and possesively in her arms. She laid her head on his chest, listening to the reassuring sound of his heartbeat as her tears flowed down onto his shoulder. "Apollo, can you ever forgive me?"

"Carolyn," Apollo breathed, seeming to be as amazed as she was that they were here, together. "You came back to me."

"I never left you!" Carolyn cried. "When the _Enterprise_ left, I stayed behind -- because I _do_ love you, Apollo. I love you so much!" Words failed her then and her body shook with her sobs. She felt Apollo reach up around her to embrace her comfortingly, as weak as he seemed.

Sensing her confusion, Apollo began to answer the question Carolyn couldn't collect herself enough to ask. "Hera... the others... they are all gone. Long gone." His voice broke with emotion as he spoke. "They did not hear me ask to take me with them."

Carolyn raised her head to look at Apollo, her eyes round with wonder. "Of course!" she realized, her Starfleet training and experience helping her to put the facts together. "We thought you _had_ left, but you just disappeared the same way as when you were exhausted before."

"Yes," Apollo agreed. He reached up to gently caress Carolyn's hair with one hand. He seemed to be regaining his strength already. "My beautiful Carolyn. I was as a whisper on the wind. It is your love that has helped me to recover so soon."

"I can't imagine what it's been like for you," Carolyn said, tenderly brushing her fingers across Apollo's cheek. "All those years of waiting, alone. It must have been so terribly lonely. Is that what mankind owes you and your people for all your kindness?"

"It doesn't matter now," Apollo replied, sitting up. Carolyn moved to sit next to him as he continued, "You're with me, now, and together we can go anywhere we wish!" With one arm still around Carolyn, Apollo waved the other arm expansively at the sky.

Carolyn looked up, following his gaze, and smiled. "Together!" she agreed.


	3. Love

Chapter Three: Love

_"Captain..."_

It was a voice Jim Kirk had not heard in quite a while. He looked up from the daily ship's reports on the datapad he was signing, and looked around for the source. Seeing none, he handed the pad to Yeoman Rand, who shared a perplexed look with her captain. Glancing back over his shoulder, Kirk saw that Spock, too, had turned away from his science station. In fact, everyone on the bridge seemed to have heard it.

A moment later, two figures materialized on the bridge. They did not transport using any known technology, but simply faded quietly into existence.

"Hello, Captain," Carolyn, one of the two visitors, said with a smile of greeting. Standing next to her, holding her hand, was Apollo.

"Apollo!" Jim Kirk exclaimed. "We thought you died - or vaporized, or something."

"I was only weakened," Apollo explained. "Carolyn's love brought me back."

"I see," Spock said calmly from Kirk's side. He had moved to stand closer to the fascinating event, the better to observe. "I am gratified that you are well, sir, however I do hope you do not intend to attack and entrap this vessel or its crew a second time."

"Don't worry, Mr. Spock," Carolyn assured her old commanding officer quickly. "We've only come back to tell you the good news, and to say goodbye to the _Enterprise_ crew more properly this time. You see," she went on, glancing up into the tall Apollo's face, "we've decided to help another, less advanced culture - the same way Apollo and the other 'gods' did back on ancient Earth."

Kirk nodded, a solemn look on his face as he listened. "Go on," he prompted.

"A planet your ship visited some months ago," Apollo said, "with a culture of women who were living in caves beneath the harsh surface and controlling the men who live on that surface, has come to our attention. They are doing well enough, physicially surviving, without the guidance of your Mr. Spock's brain, but they lack moral leadership. Their planet has come to chaos and divided into warlike factions."

The captain and first officer of the _Enterprise_ exchanged a concerned look.

"I wonder if we didn't cause more problems than we solved on that planet?" Kirk mused, half to himself.

"You acted in the way you judged best, Captain," Spock said reassuringly.

"It wasn't your fault," Carolyn agreed. "You did what you had to do to save Mr. Spock. But now Apollo and I have a chance to help them."

Kirk smiled and nodded, having decided he approved of their plan. "Good luck."

"Thank you," Apollo said graciously, and with a wave of his arm, he and Carolyn disappeared.

* * *

The Morg and Eymorg accepted Carolyn and Apollo readily enough, and in time, Carolyn became known as the Lady of Peace. She stood as a symbol of patience and understanding, and as an example for wives to be kind to their husbands. Apollo stood for strength and stability, and was known as an advocate of order. Together, the two 'gods' brought worldwide peace to the planet, and it eventually came to be called Angel One.

Carolyn and Apollo had many children together over the years, who helped to uphold and spread the healthy moral values to the world.

Apollo's appearance, of course, remained the same, as did those of their children once they were grown, but Carolyn's face became lined with creases of hard work and love. Apollo thought, however, that she was even more beautiful, if that were possible, than the day he had first seen her in his garden. That garden and that planet seemed so very far away now.

"Oh, my beautiful Carolyn," Apollo said softly, stroking his young wife's golden hair. "Your life is too short. I mourn that I cannot grant you, too, immortality. But even when you are gone, you will live on in our children. I will remain here with them and continue to guide the Morg and Eymorg until they, like the people of your own planet did so long ago, grow up and fly away. Then I think I will follow Zeus, Hera, and the others."

Carolyn smiled, looking deep into Apollo's eyes. "Even after that, our children and their children will continue to help cultures throughout the universe, maybe even forever."

Overwhelmed with love, Carolyn and Apollo kissed.

* * *

Author's Note: Angel One is a planet that appeared in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation by the same name. I'm sure that for the truly star coordinate-savvy Trekkie fan, you could dig far enough to find out that these two planets were in totally different sectors or something. However, I liked the idea so I'm going with it!


End file.
